Boy Wonder
by Isaac A. Drake
Summary: In one of the 52 exists an Earth where the timeline did not bump up every decade. Batman was active in the 30s. Nightwing took over for him in the 60s. And now it's the 90s and the newest Batman needs a Robin.
1. Background and Prologue

Disclaimer and note: Guess what? I am not of the ownage of Batman (DC) or Buffy (Mutant Enemy and Whedon). Go figure, it's a fanfic site. Okay so real quick I'm going to detail the DCish aspect of this universe:

Batman became active in the late 30s and did not join the JSA until after WWII at which point Superman joined too.  
In the late 60s Bruce Wayne turned the title of Batman over to his adopted son, heir, and all around prodigy Dick Grayson, Nightwing. Dick was in his late 20s at the time. This is also around the time the JSA disbanded and some members formed the Justice League in the Watchtower, which was about as high tech as the current ISS. Luckily they still had teleporters and good ships thanks to Shayera and the Martian. Just not a fun place to live, it was more of a communications and relay/watch station.  
In the late 80s Dick turned the mantle over to the finally heroic biological son(by rape-ish circumstances) of Bruce, Damien Wayne. The current Nightwing is Tim Drake, who did not take up the Dark Knight mantle due to wishing to operate outside of Gotham with the current Justice League.  
The current Justice League is made up of many former Titan and Young Justice members including Superboy who never died in this continuity.  
Damien Wayne married Stephanie Brown when he was 22 and she 26. Stephanie had had a relationship with Tim when she first became Batgirl at 16 but she and the older man did not work out. Damien and Stephanie have yet to have children but Stephanie recently retired the title of Batwoman.  
By the 90s-  
Dick Grayson runs Wayne Enterprises, Damien is next in line to inherit. Dick did eventually marry Starfire and they have one half-breed boy who according to both of them is more than enough for their marriage and are not aiming for more.  
Barbara Gordon still runs things as Oracle though she got a cybernetic outer spine attached to her back so she can now walk, just not assume full superhero duties. She is looking for a successor as being both Oracle and a police consultant is weighing upon her.  
The Watchtower is in the super-hi-tech state you see in the Justice League cartoon.  
There will be a few more 2nd and 3rd gen heroes running around but that would be telling now wouldn't it? Especially since this first part will be Gotham exclusive.  
Ages: Bruce- 82  
Dick- 59  
Barbara- 58  
Tim- 41  
Damien- 32  
Stephanie- 36  
o-Prologue: Discovering a Sidekick-o

"Look Steph, don't worry about it okay? Tim said he'll take over in Gotham while my leg heals." A pause, "No I'm not in over my head dear." Another pause and a sigh, "Yes dear. I'll think about it." A wince, "Okay okay! I'll look for one I promise! Now I have to go to the meeting." A slightly goofy smile, "I love you too." A snap signifies the phone hanging up.

Dick Grayson turned around to look at his younger 'brother'. "Well I'll assume that was Steph berating you over something mask related since you mentioned Tim?"

Damien Wayne, the current Batman let out a sigh. "Yeah Dick. She wants me to get a Robin or Batgirl to help me out after this latest injury." He was leaning lightly on a cane, he was obviously on the mend. "Even if I just recruit an existing teen hero from the Neo-Titans." He shook his head, "I know I formed the group fifteen years ago but do they have to be so bratty when it comes to sidekickery?"

The CEO of Wayne Enterprises blinked, "Side...kickery?" He shook his head, "No more hanging out with The Flash when you're at the Watchtower."

The younger man huffed, "Well if they'd just make a word for it we wouldn't have to butcher the English language!"

The two men were amicably walking down a street in Sunnydale, California. They were here to meet with an executive of Star Labs to arrange a joint effort to create more fuel efficient anti-gravity technology. The current anti-grav drained any sort of power source like there was no tomorrow. However due to alien civilizations such as the Kryptonians they knew it was possible.

Their discussion was cut off as a woman's voice shrieked out into the night in terror, a young boy's voice quickly followed with a shout of, "Mom!"

The two men barely spared each other a glance before they burst into action sprinting around the corner. Damien ignored the pain in his leg as they came upon the scene.

A man was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood outside of a slightly run down house. A beer bottle was in his dead hand. Against the wall of the house a woman was being...bitten by a man-like creature whose eyes glowed yellow as a young boy, probably no older than ten, was slumped against the door to the house, obviously he'd been tossed there after trying to save his mom.

Damien and Dick cursed to themselves, "Vampire!" Dick glanced around for something to use as a stake and the almost sixty year old man pulled a fence post out of the ground.

Damien had a more direct route. With a "snhink" two blades shot out of his wrists, closer inspection would show thin metal bracers under his suit sleeves. He sprinted forwards, once again ignoring the pain in his leg, to attack the creature of the night.

Noticing the incoming attack the vamp tossed the woman into the street, even if she hadn't been dead from bloodloss the head trauma from hitting the pavement certainly did it. As it tossed out a punch at the thirty something year old attacker it was disarmed. Literally, Damien had no sympathy for soulless beings and had taken its arm off with one swipe and then proceeded to dust it by taking the head with another.

Dick dropped the sign post and went over to the kid. "Son? Are you alright?" The boy groaned in answer. "Damien! Call an ambulance!"

The younger man nodded and pulled out his cell phone.

Five minutes later an ambulance was taking them all to Sunnydale General.

An hour later at the hospital-

"Will he be alright doctor?" Damien questioned.

The elderly doctor nodded, "Physically at least. The poor boy only had a concussion and a few bruises. We'll keep him overnight for observation but...poor Alexander just lost his parents." A scowl crossed the man's face. "Not the best parents but...still."

The younger man turned a questioning gaze upon the doctor, "Was he...in here often? Was it," He sighed, "Abuse?"

The doctor nodded in disgust, "Yes...his father was quite the alcoholic but we could never make anything stick. Young Alexander was in here a few times a month for little things and a few times a year for broken bones. Quite the sturdy young boy and now...now he's all alone."

Damien frowned and shook his head, "No he's not. We Wayne's have a history of taking in young children in need that cross our paths. My brother Richard is a great example. If he has no other family I'll take him in." Damien felt this was the right thing to do in his heart.

The doctor's eyes flew wide open, "Would you really Mr. Wayne? The boy deserves a good turn, I'll call Child Services straight away!" The man hurried off.

A week later Damien walked in the front of Wayne Manor with the eleven year old Alexander Harris, his new foster son, at his side. "Don't be afraid Alex. I'm sure Stephie will love you. As will Bruce and you already know Dick so that's really everyone here!" The young boy looked up at his new foster dad with bright, but slightly cautious eyes, "Are you sure?"

Damien's answer was cut off by a beautiful blonde woman, "Well this is the adorable little boy you rescued Damien?" She smirked as both her husband and their new ward looked over at her, "I must say he'll probably turn out better than you did. I get to mold him early."

Damien rolled his eyes, "Yes dear."

She walked over and cooed at him, "Oh but you have learned something!" She bent down to eye level with Alexander. "Hi there Alex. I'm Stephanie Wayne, Damien's wife. And what you just saw was him demonstrating rule number one." She paused for dramatic effect, glorifying in the boys curious stare and the exasperated look on Damien's face. Well mostly enjoying the last one. "I'm always right!"

Three months later Alexander was fitting in nicely at the manor. He'd even started calling Bruce "Grandfather" instead of the initial "old man" he'd started out with. He actually got along best with Bruce. He was absolutely fascinated by the old man's genius, he actually roped him into teaching him chemistry which Alex picked up very quickly.

It was at this point that Alexander nervously knocked on the door to his foster parent's bedroom. "Come in." His foster father called and Alex cautiously walked into the room, shutting the door behind him. He didn't see his foster mother, Damien was flipping channels while doing work on his laptop and turned the tv off as he entered. "Something wrong Alex?"

The boy took a deep breath. "Please sir...please teach me how to fight those things that killed my parents." At the shocked look he got he went for the kill. "Please...I don't want to ever be afraid again. Please teach me...dad?"

Damien couldn't resist. He knew he'd have to talk to Stephanie about it but he was pretty sure he'd found his Robin.


	2. Obligatory Training Montage with Family

Author's Note: Guys chill, Sunnydale will totally be featured in this fic a lot more than you think. It's the 90s, he's going to keep in contact with Willow and Jessie. What do you expect he'll do when he finds out Sunnydale is too much for just one Slayer to handle? Anyways disclaimer was in the first chapter and if I do any other DC crossovers, even minor ones, I'll add more. And Dick marrying Starfire totally falls under the Batman mythos because it is in a Nightwing comic. If I include an actual character exclusively from Teen Titans, Young Justice, or another group I'll add it.  
o-Training and Family-o

Xander Harris was a bit overwhelmed by the first few months of his training. The second Bruce had heard about it he'd taken his academic lessons to a whole new level. Suddenly the boy was being taught history, chemistry, physics, engineering (not his best subject he tended to break things), military strategy, guerrilla strategy, etiquette (but that was for the whole Wayne Enterprises deal not super-hero stuff), and electronics (also not his best subject if he was asked to do anything other than press a button). It was two different subjects every day on a rotating schedule with Sundays off. Xander had never been so encouraged to learn before in his life, and he liked it. Being praised when he succeeded, the teacher being patient with him, it was something that made him actually strive to do his best.

Even while his mind was being overloaded so was his body. He was a pretty sturdy young boy, years of abuse would do that, but he was much lacking in the flexibility, agility, and speed necessary for his family's fighting style. They focused on that first. Grueling hours of stretches, hurdles, rope climbing, gymnastics, and judo took up most of his spare time in those first months.

It was on a night about two months in that he was talking to his best friend Willow Rosenburg on the phone. "Yeah Wills, I love it here. They treat me like I'm something special." He started to tear up but quickly blinked them away.

"I'm so happy for you Xander! You totally deserve this so much! I just wish I could see you!" The redhead babbled at about a mile a minute.

That action, so purely Willow, brought a huge smile to his face. "Thanks Wills. I miss you too! Maybe I'll ask if you can visit us here in Gotham for Thanksgiving next month since your parents have that umm..." He tried to remember if it was an symposium or a convention. "Well psychological thingy," His friend giggled at that and he gave a joking 'ahem'. "As I was saying...across the river in NYC?"

Willow's excitement seemed to radiate across the phone line. "I'd get to see your new home? And meet the Waynes? That would be so amazing!"

Xander grinned, "Well yeah I'll ask you know? I think they'll say yes, they've been trying to get me to make more friends but a lot of kids in Gotham are weary because my new family is well...rich. And the rest don't want to talk to me for me." He sighed at that last bit.

Little known to the children Xander's foster mom, Stephanie, was listening from the other side of his door. _"Oh poor Alex...I know Dick, Tim, and Damien used to feel the same way."_ She turned around and walked towards her husband's den, determined to get Alex's little girl friend an invite.

Almost a month later Xander lay huffing and puffing on an authentic tatami mat in the Wayne Manor dojo after an intense spar with his dad. "I...*huff* will..." He took another gasp of air. "Kick your...*huff* ass someday...*huff* dad." He froze at the smirk on his father's face then turned his head to look at the door.

"Oh..." And that was when the two females standing there both started in on him.

"Alexander Lavelle Harris! Language!" Willow Rosenburg and Stephanie Wayne, who had picked the girl up from the airport, turned to look at each other with bewilderment as they spoke the same words at the exact same time.

With a groan Xander laid his head back against the mat. "Thanks...moms." He purposely used plural there.

Willow walked over and looked down at him, "If you weren't looking so pathetic and beat up and if I wasn't so happy to see you I'd smack you." Instead she put on a playful grin and leaned down to give him a big, tight, hug.

"Oww oww wow ow!" Xander groaned as he returned the hug. "Happy to see you too Wills but oww hug of death much?"

The two adults chuckled at the children's antics.

"Now go get cleaned up so you can give me a tour silly!" She gave him her resolve face and he could just chuckles. "I missed ya Wills. Be right back." He leapt up to his feet and ran off to his room, shocking Willow as he'd just been on the ground in exhaustion earlier.

"How- he...but?" She stumbled over which question to ask.

Damien shook his head in amusement, "Alex has improved greatly since he came here."

The redhead looked quizzically at her friend's father. "Why do you guys call him Alex? He's always gone by Xander."

Stephanie blinked and looked over at Damien, "We never did ask him did we? I guess we should."

It was at this point that Xander returned, "Hey Willow! Let's go see the trophy room first, we'll do the library last since I know you'll want to stay there the longest."

Willow let out a huff of indignation but didn't contradict him.

They saw the trophy room, the dining room, random rooms 4-19, the observatory, the ballroom, the conservatory, the kitchen, the other kitchen, the unused tower, the tower used for storage, and many other rooms before they came to their second to last stop, the main study.

As he pointed to various cool trinkets his dad had on his desk Xander tripped and fell, his head barely missed the edge of the desk and when he looked up he saw a button. "Hey...what's this do?" Being a naturally curious eleven year old he pressed it.

A panel on the back wall fell away with a swish. The two children looked over to see two firepoles. "Willow...are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Secret panels and firepoles? We gotta check this out!" The two rushed over and slid down the poles.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeee!" They both cried out as they slid down quite a distance.

With a solid oomph they landed at the bottom and looked about the strange hi-tech cave.

"I've never been here before..." Xander muttered as he looked around curiously.

"Xander..." Willow whispered as he glanced over at a strange computer console. "Yeah Wills?" He absentmindedly replied. "Look at this." She growled when he didn't respond, "Xander LOOK!" He turned and looked where she pointed and his jaw dropped.

"The...Batsuit?" Both teens were in shock. Sitting in glass tubes along a wall were a variety of Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman, Nightwing, and Red Robin suits.

Upstairs Stephanie was searching for the pre-teens and found the open panel. "Oh..." She gathered her patience and calm and..."DAMIEN!" She shouted.


	3. Welcome to the Family: Part 1

Author's Note: Okay so I'm going to be posting a chapter of this whenever I get to a good stopping point for said chapter be it 2000 words or 10000 (2K+ seems to be the most common though, but once I get into fight chapters it'll get longer!) Why? Because if I set myself a say 5K minimum I'll have to stop at some point and take a break. So when I get back I'll look over what I wrote and change it a bit, that would continue for months. You guys would much prefer 2-4K every week or sometimes more often than that than wait 3 months for 5-10 K. On another note good call on the Willow as an Oracle-type character. I figure she won't have strong enough magic to fight until much later so she'll focus on improving knowledge. And yes the current Batman costume is to segue into the Batman Beyond costume.

o-Welcome to the Family Part 1-o

The two children gazed around in wonder at the secret stronghold they'd found.

"Xander look! These computers are so hi-tech!" Willow started geeking out over the consoles. "I don't even know what these do!"

Xander however was busy examining the costumes. "The original Batman costume, and here is Robin one! Oh and the first Batgirl next to the second and third Robins! Oh and look the first Nightwing, the second Batman! Wow, this is the Red Robin costume! And wow…" He trailed off as he reached the current Batman costume right after the fourth Robin. It was a lot less bulky than the original Batman suit but still had definite padding in some areas; the cowl was thinner and more streamlined, the ears were longer and thinner, the belt was thinner but had more compartments, the cape seemed to be retractable into a small strip along the shoulders, and finally the suit's color was black with a dark midnight blue bat insignia on the chest.

Willow had finally turned to see what he was looking at. "Wow…it is amazing. So hi-tech!"

Suddenly a crackling came over one of the consoles before a voice spoke, "Damien, I have a detected an entrance to the Batcave through the…Batpoles? Why the Batpoles? We haven't used those since Dick was Robin! Are the other entrances okay? Oh that's it I'm coming on vid-screen." A flicker and Oracle was on the screen, she saw the two children and blinked.

"A-aunt Barbara?" Xander managed to stammer out.

"What on-Alex? What are you doing in the Batcave? Surely Damien hasn't…the Batpoles of course." She sighed and placed her forehead in her hands.

The kids of course were frozen like two toddlers with their hands caught in the cookie jar. It was not even seconds later that Damien and Stephanie entered.

"I didn't even know those still worked!" Damien remarked with chagrin, "It's not like I built them or anything…"

"Focus Damien, the secret is out." Stephanie sighed, "Okay so Alex…Willow…I'm sure you guys have a lot of questions…why don't we go upstairs and have Bruce join us, Barbara why don't you come over for tea as well?"

The eldest woman of the Batfamily nodded in the screen, "Of course Stephanie, I'll be right over. You can start without me though." The screen flickered off.

An hour later Xander and Willow sat shellshocked at the revelations of the day.

"So we're the family is and supports the Batman and all sidekicks, and you're training me to be Robin?" Xander felt a mix of proud, scared, honored, and nervous.

Damien nodded, "That's the long and short of it. The Robin bit came after you asked for training and showed such promise."

Willow turned to her best friend, "I can't believe you're going to be the next Robin! I'm so excited for you! It's like a dream come true!" This of course was all spoken at light speed so only Xander understood without thinking for an extra minute in order to pull it apart.

The boy scratched the back of his head and chuckled, "Thanks Wills…I'm a bit nervous though! I mean I have to live up to Uncle Dick, Uncle Tim, and my dad…and…" A thought struck him, "Oh my god…when we visited the grave of Jason Todd…he was the second Robin wasn't he?"

A wince went through Bruce, "Yes Alex…Jason was the Robin during Dick's stint as Nightwing in the early 60s. The Joker got to him."

Barbara turned to the first Batman, "Bruce if we're going to bring him into this world he needs to know the whole truth. He deserves it."

Bruce sighed, "Fine, Ra'as al Ghul had arranged for Joker to kidnap him to distract me. According to that plan Joker was never supposed to even seriously injure Jason. Ra'as felt ashamed of his plan causing such a death that he tried to bring Jason back with a Lazarus Pit." He placed his head in his hands, "The results were horrifying. Jason came back twisted. He donned the identity of the Red Hood and began killing off the crime bosses of Gotham, he almost killed Blask Mask and Joker. That was his entire point, to kill the Joker. I barely stopped him in time and the resulting explosion killed him for good."

Xander sat stunned, he didn't usually think of heroes dying.

Damien, Stephanie, Bruce, and Barbara all sat around the table looking at each other; they knew this would be the make or break point on whether Alex became Robin or not.

Willow put her hand on Xander's arm reassuringly and he nodded back at her before thinking some more about what he'd just been told.

After a few minutes Xander looked up, straight into the eyes of his grandfather. "Well then…I better do my best to live up to all of your names and make sure Jason never died in vain. As long as there is a Robin his sacrifice will never be forgotten right?"

Stephanie stood up and walked over to hug him, "Of course not Alex, and we'll be here helping you every step of the way."

Xander blushed at the hug; he'd never gotten those from his biological mother after he was five.

"So does this mean I can start learning to use the gadgets now?" His hopeful grin set the adults laughing.

The next few days went smoothly, Xander's training was a bit light due to him having a guest over and lessons with Bruce continued as usual except with Willow joining in. She was astounded by how fast Xander had been learning, especially the chemistry which he seemed especially gifted in. They were just leaving the extra study where they did their lessons when Xander tried to explain his gift with chemistry to Willow.

"Well it just makes sense you know Wills? Like you and computers. Lucky for me you're good with those, right? I'm horrible with them!" This was true, he could click on programs and give voice commands, ask him to do anything more in depth and he was lost.

Willow thought about this for a bit before turning to her friend, "Hey Xander? You know all those stories Mr. Wayne, your dad, and Ms. Gordon told us about Ms. Gordon's Oracle persona?"

The boy nodded, "Yeah why Wills?"

The girl smiled winningly back at him, "I'm going to be your Oracle someday okay? I might not be good at fighting but I'm good with computers!"

Xander was stunned, "Wow Wilow, that'd be totally awesome! Especially if I go off and do my own thing after being Robin like Uncle Tim as Nightwing! Or even Uncle Dick when he first started the Titans as Robin!"

Willow nodded enthusiastically, "That's the point!"

The next day was Thanksgiving; the cooking staff had worked all day to create quite the feast. It had a few huge delicious turkeys, lots of cranberry sauce, even more mashed potatoes, and plates and plates of other food too. The entire Batfamily was in attendance, even Tim Drake who seemed a bit more distant than the rest of the family.

Dick had brought his entire family which was just Starfire and their son who they'd named after the Wayne's old butler Alfred and Starfire's father Myand'r. Andy, as he went by, was twenty, had a more muscular version of Dick's build, and was the leader of the current Teen Titans as Nightfire, a combination of his father's solo hero identity and his mother's.

Dick and Andy were laughing uproariously at how Xander and Willow had found the Batcave.

"I can't believe you two found the Batpoles! Oh wow, it was over thirty years ago that we used those right Bruce? I still think one of the other entrances should have an auto-costuming feature like those did!"

The old man rolled his eyes, "Never again. It didn't work properly." He grumbled the rest to himself; Xander thought he heard something about wedgies.

The meal was almost to a close and dessert was about to be brought out when Damien's pure black pager went off and he sighed. "That means they just set off the Bat Signal, I have to go. I'm sorry everyone." As he stood up both Tim and Andy stood to follow, "We're still active Uncle Damien," Andy explained, "We'll help and maybe it'll go faster."

Damien nodded and they walked off to the grandfather clock to enter the Cave. The rest of the family moved down to the cave as well to watch the progress on the moniters.

A few minutes later when the images came up on the screen Bruce stepped back in horror, it was Killer Croc tearing apart downtown Gotham, screaming about how he would get revenge on Batman for imprisoning him.

"How did he escape? It's been twenty years!" Barbara asked in shock.

Bruce gave a light growl, "The Outsiders disbanded and he was turned over to a high security meta-prison. I don't know how he escaped but it would have been easier from there."

Downtown Gotham, the battle against Killer Croc:

Batman glided in and gave Croc a vicious kick to the back of the head sending him stumbling forward right into a glowing punch from Nightfire. The man-creature was sent flying into the wall of a nearby building. With a harsh roar the more dinosaur than crocodilian metahuman ripped a fire hydrant out of the ground and chucked it at Nightwing who was gliding in. Nightwing did some aerial acrobatics to dodge the object.

Another growl was let loose as Croc's legs were tied up by a trip-batarang and a tearing sound followed a swipe of his claws. "Batman! I WILL SHRED YOU!" He bull-charged Batman who used a combination of the batclaw to pull himself around a lamppost and acrobatics to send him above the creature so he could throw a few electric shock batarangs down at Croc.

"GRWAWR!" Croc roared as the shock was followed with some energy blasts from Nightfire.

Nightwing and Batman both let loose a barrage of wires to trap Croc as he stumbled. Using perfect teamwork Nightfire began to pelt energy blasts down upon Croc's head to disorient him further.

After a few barrages Croc was almost unconscious and was disoriented enough for Batman to swing in and nail him with some high powered sleeping gas and a tranquilizer used on elephants.

"How on Earth did he get here?" Damien questioned as they called in the League to get him sent to a higher security meta-prison than the last one.

Back at the Mansion:  
"Wow that was brutal!" Xander commented as the battle came to an end, and Willow nodded emphatically.

"We haven't had a heavy hitter like that around Gotham since the death of Solomon Grundy a decade ago." Dick commented as the action died down.

"So you don't get that often?" Xander questioned curiously.

"No, mostly now the rogues gallery is pretty small. Joker's dead, Riddler reformed, Two-Face died, Scarecrow disappeared, Ivy last we heard was a hermit in the Amazon Rainforest, and without Joker or Ivy Quinn has been pretty aimless. A few are still left, but none of the worst. There have been a few bad copycats and there are always a few serial killers that create a masked persona. But we haven't had anyone on level with Joker or Croc in years. The only reason Damien got injured that badly a few months back is because someone stole Firefly tech and combined it with Venom." Stephanie winced at the end of her explanation.

Dick nodded, "Yes that was a vicious combination. At a distance he'd try and fry Damien, got too close and he'd punch him with a fist the size of a toaster. He eventually burned himself out, quite literally. Damien managed to nick his fire nozzle with a batarang and the lick of fire that shot out hit the Venom tubes and set him ablaze."

Xander winced, "Wow that sounds bad. Did he make it?"

Bruce shook his head sadly, "No, we saw the autopsy report, the Venom had been straining his system even before the fire. He was dying anyways."

After Damien returned Xander ran up to hug him, "You guys were so great! I can't wait to be out there with you guys!"

After that they went back to the dining room to finish dessert. From that point on the holiday was much calmer and eventually Willow had to go back home.

"Remember Xander! I'll be working hard so I can help you when you need me, but you better be working hard so that you're the best Robin ever!"

Xander nodded enthusiastically. "You bet Wills!" He gave her a big hug, "I'm going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too!" With that she turned around from him and boarded the plane that was taking her back to Sunnydale.


End file.
